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A grant of probate or letters of administration issued in another country has no direct force in Thailand. The person named as executor in the will applies to a Thai court for an order appointing an administrator, and banks and Land Offices act only on that order, not on the foreign document. Being a foreigner, or living outside Thailand, does not stop you from being appointed.
In short
- Thailand has no grant of probate of its own. A Thai court order appointing an administrator is what banks and the Land Office actually need.
- A foreigner can be the administrator. The law excludes only minors, people of unsound mind or adjudged quasi-incompetent, and bankrupts.
- Where the will names an administrator, the court appoints that person.
- The administrator must act in person. A power of attorney works only in three situations.
- Once the administrator has learned, or is deemed to have learned, of the court's order, statutory deadlines start running for the inventory and the final accounts.
Why an executor cannot act without a Thai court
Thailand does not issue anything equivalent to an English-style grant of probate. Instead, a Probate Court order appoints a named administrator of the estate, and that order is what a bank or the Land Office asks to see. An heir, an interested person, or the public prosecutor may apply for the order. Where the deceased's will names someone to administer the estate, the court appoints that person under section 1713 of the Civil and Commercial Code.
This single step explains most of the confusion foreign families run into. A bank will not transfer funds on a UK grant of probate, and the Land Office will not register a condo transfer on US letters testamentary. The foreign document serves as supporting evidence; banks and the Land Office require the Thai court's own appointment order.
Can a foreigner be the executor
Nothing in Thai law bars a foreign national or a non-resident from being appointed administrator of an estate in Thailand. Section 1718 of the Civil and Commercial Code lists who cannot serve: a minor, a person of unsound mind or one adjudged quasi-incompetent, and a bankrupt. Nationality and country of residence are not on that list, and a Thai co-administrator is not required by law.
In practice this means a British, American or Australian executor named in a home-country will can be the same person a Thai court appoints to deal with the Thai estate — the main constraints are procedural, not about who you are.
A foreign will or grant of probate
A foreign grant of probate, letters testamentary, or a similar document from your home country's probate authority serves as supporting evidence for the petition to the Thai court. It is not a substitute for the Thai court's own order. Foreign documents need legalisation and a certified Thai translation before the court will accept them.
Until 28 February 2027, legalisation runs through the familiar chain: your home country's notary or issuing authority, then your foreign ministry, then the Thai embassy or consulate. Thailand deposited its accession to the Apostille Convention, and from that date an apostille is meant to replace the chain — subject to objections some states may still raise, so this is worth checking close to the date rather than assumed in advance.
Cases built on a foreign will, rather than a Thai one, tend to take longer at court. As a market estimate reported by Thai legal practice, expect roughly 12 to 24 months or longer, against 3 to 6 months where a Thai will already names an administrator. These figures are practice, not a deadline fixed by statute, and they can move either way depending on the court and the estate.
| Document | What the court does with it | What to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign grant of probate / letters testamentary / letters of administration | Supporting evidence for the petition, not a court order in itself | Legalisation and a certified Thai translation |
| Original will, or a certified copy | The basis for appointing the administrator named in it | The original or a certified copy; check with the court you file in for its own requirements |
| Death certificate | Confirms the estate exists and when it opened | A certified copy; legalisation and a certified Thai translation if it is a foreign document |
| Proof of relationship to the deceased | Supports who may apply and who may inherit | A certified copy; legalisation and a certified Thai translation if it is a foreign document |
| Documents for assets in Thailand (title deed, bank statements) | Identifies what the administrator will deal with after appointment | Current copies from the bank or Land Office |
| Power of attorney signed abroad | Only relevant where acting through an agent is allowed | Signed, witnessed and legalised before use |
Our lawyers check whether the documents you already have are enough to open the case, before you start the legalisation chain for anything that is missing.
An executor living abroad: power of attorney
The administrator is expected to act personally. Acting through an agent is allowed only in three situations under section 1723 of the Civil and Commercial Code: the will itself permits it, the court orders it, or the interests of the estate require it. A power of attorney on its own is not automatically enough — what matters first is what the will says, and then what the court decides. The petition that opens the case can be filed by a Thai lawyer regardless.
We suggest reading what the will says about a representative before you plan a trip, or decide not to take one: that clause is one factor in whether you can act from abroad, alongside what the court orders or the estate's own needs, and we check this with the court before filing.
What is not yet settled
Thai lawyers disagree on whether the foreign applicant must attend the appointment hearing in person. At least one reported case had a foreign applicant give testimony online to the court; this does not confirm that testifying from outside Thailand is accepted as a rule. Neither "always" nor "never" is accurate here, and which court even has venue over the case — normally the deceased's domicile at death, or where the assets are if there was no Thai domicile (Civil Procedure Code section 4 quater) — is also not something we state in advance. Before filing, we check both points with the court that will hear the petition.
If you are the executor and live outside Thailand — in London, say, or anywhere else — the steps usually run: gather the will and supporting documents, have signatures notarised, get them authenticated by your home country's foreign ministry, have them legalised by the Thai embassy, arrange a certified Thai translation, instruct a Thai lawyer to file the petition, attend or arrange representation at the hearing, and wait for the order. Check each of these steps with the consulate handling your case before you rely on it, since mission practice varies.
What the executor does after appointment
The order can be appealed within one month of being read out (Civil Procedure Code section 229). Separately, once the administrator has learned, or is deemed to have learned, of the order, the statutory deadlines for the administrator's own duties start running: the inventory of the estate begins within 15 days and is finished within a month, though the court can extend that period, and the administration itself, and the final accounts, should be completed within a year, unless the will, a majority of the heirs, or the court itself sets a different period (sections 1716, 1728, 1729 and 1732). Thai lawyers report a petition fee of THB 200, plus publication and service costs that we confirm with the court before filing.
With the order in hand, the administrator takes it to the bank and to the Land Office to deal with accounts and registered property. If the estate includes a condo and the foreign heir is not entitled to retain it under the Condominium Act — the building's foreign-ownership quota is one such condition, not the only one — a separate set of rules applies: notifying the Land Office within 60 days and disposing of the unit within one year (Condominium Act sections 19/5 and 19/7), which we cover in our guide on inheriting a condo as a foreign heir.
Our team prepares the inventory alongside the administrator and handles the registration at the Land Office once the order is issued, so the deadlines above are tracked rather than discovered late.
What to do next
A foreign will, read against a Thai estate, raises questions that are easiest to answer before the petition is filed rather than after. If you are also planning ahead rather than dealing with a death that has already happened, our guide on a Thai will alongside your home will and our page on inheritance and probate support in Thailand cover the wider process. One typical case of a foreign heir and an inherited condo shows how the court stage and the one-year sale window played out together.
Send us the will and the documents you already have. Within 24 hours our lawyers will explain what the Thai court will need, how long the case is likely to take, and what it will cost. We fix the price before we start the work.
